Slidable jaw wrench with worm latching means



Jan. 20, 1959 J. E. swANsTRoM ET AL 2,869,409

SLIDABLE JAW WRENCH WITH WORM LATCHING MEANS Filed April 22, 1957 USB.

United States latent() 2,862,409 SLIDABLE `JAW WRENCH WITH WORM ,-LATCHING MEANS v John E. Swanstrom, Wade Hampton Connell, Joseph Fennimore Cooper, AJr., and Swan Elmer Swanson,

Duluth, Minn., assignors to Diamond Calk Horseshoe Company, Duluth, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Application Aprirzz, 1951, serial No. 654,211

4 claims. r`(ci. s1-16s) 2,719,449. `Such wrenches, however, have all had certain disadvantages in that they are eitherdifficult and unhandy to Llock and unlock, or are too cumbersome in construction, or require.. two hands'to lock and unlock, or are unsound mechanically as evidenced bythe fact thatthey become orare initially'loose fitting and soon can be adjusted onlywith difficulty.l Our invention is designed to eliminate these disadvantages. y

It is a general object of our Yinvention to provide `a novel and improved adjustable wrench-having improved locking means of Vsimple and inexpensive: construction and operation.

A more specifictobject is to provide a novel and improved adjustable wrench having 'improved locking means simple andinexpensive 1to `manufacture and assemble, which can the operated easily, and -is constructed so as toavoidthe use of loose fitting parts in the adjusting mechanism of the wrench.

Another object is vto provide a novel -an'd improved adjustable wrenchconstructedso as tov make it permissible to utilize the sam'e worm mounting pins as 'previously utilized in wrenches not having lockingfeatures.

Another object-is kto provideafnovel and improved adjustable wrench constructed so as to provide interchangability offparts withsimilar nonlocking wrenches.

Another object is to provide a novel Vand improved adjustable wrench having a locking mechanism fconstructed so as` to permit the-other parts of the wrench tobemade with close fitting parts and hence `will provide a, more .satisfactorily.operating wrench.

Another object is to provideia novel and improved adjustable wrenchV having a locking mechanism which/is less apt to be 'knocked out of locking positionduring Another object is to provide a novel and improved adustable wrench having a locking mechanismcapable of more accurate adjustment between various locking `positions in-that it has a maximum' number of such adjusting positions at which it ,may be locked., y

Another object is to provide a novel and improved adjustable wrench providedwith a locking mechanism,

the wrench lhaving all the desirable functions of arnonlocking wrench even in the event the vlocking mechanism is damaged or needsfreplacement of `a part .because Vof wear.

Anothlerfobject -is tn plovide a novel kkand Vimproved adjustable wrench having va locking mechanism comv i .ffice structed so that the wear of the locking-mechanism will not cause a sloppy fit between the parts of the wrench which perform the normal functions of the wrench and hence, despite wear to the locking mechanism' the wrench will perform its primary functions equally as well as when new.

These and other objects and advantages of our invention will more fully appear from'the following description, made in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer tothe saine or similar parts throughout the several viewsV and in which:

Fig. is a fragmentary elevation of a wrench embodying our invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view of the same wrench with parts broken away to better illustrate the novel features thereof;

Fig. 3 is a sectional View taken along 3 3 of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the shiftable plate member which carries the worm-locking element; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the spring plate which positively secures the locking element in worm-locking and unlocking position.

The embodiment of our invention shown in Figs. 1-5 includes a handle member 10 provided with a head 11 having an integral jaw 12, the top of the head being formed with a guide channel 13 of generally inverted T-shape in ytransverse cross-section` and being valso formed with a rectangular opening 14 which intersects the vhead ofthe T 'of the guide channel 13. `Slidably .mounted in the guide chanel 13 is a movable second jawmember 1S having an inverted T portion 16, the Vhead of the Y'i' being provided with a rack 17. Mounted within the rectangular opening 14 in the head is`a worm 18 in mesh with the teeth of the rack 17, the worm beng supported on a shaft or pin 19 which is threaded at its inner end into the head 11 of the wrench. This shaft 19 is cylindrical in shape and of uniform diameter throughout its length. All of these parts as hereinbefore described are conventional in open end wrenches and are merely illustrative of the type of wrench in which the invention may be applied. The worm- 1S is of somewhat different construction as will be hereinafter de scribed.

It will be noted that the worm 18 is rotatably mounted in a fairly close fit upon the cylindrical pin or shaft 19. This is important for it insures that upon slight wear there will not be sufficient play to cause the wrench to be worked with diiculty. One end portion of the worm 11 is provided with an annularly arranged rack 20 which isarrangedso that its axis is the axis of the shaft 19. Mounted on the shaft 19 is a plate member 21. This plate member 21 is positioned between the end portion of the worm 18 which carries the rack 29 and the `fixed jaw 1.2. One side of the plate member 21 adjacent its peripheral portion carries a locking element or dog .22 which is adapted to fit into the recesses in the Yrack 249 to. preclude rotation of the worm 18 about the shaft 19 when desired. The plate member 21 has an opening 21a which is elongated in the direction `transversely of the head `11 so that the plate member 21 may be shifted radially of the shaft 19 and transversely of the `head A411`to cause the locking element or dog 22 to engage and'disengage the rack 20. At opposite sides of 'the plate member 21 there is one of a pair of ears 23 and 24 which extend normal to the plane of the plate member 21 and j parallel to the exterior side surface of the head 11. Each side surface of the `head 11 is provided is shifted to cause the locking element or dog 22 to shift between worm-locking and unlocking positions.

Positioned between the plate member 21 is a spring plate element 27. As shown, this spring plate 27 also has an elongated opening 27a which accommodates the shaft 19. This spring plate 27 shifts with `the plate member 21 as the locking element 22 is moved between worm-locking and unlocking positions. The width of the spring plate 27 is slightly greater than the thickness of the head member 11 so that a portion of the spring plate 27 extends laterally beyond the side surfaces of the head 11 when it is shifted in either direction, the portion which extends beyond the side surface of the head being that portion extending farthest in the direction of shifting movement of the plate member 21.

As best shown in Fig. the spring plate member 27 is concavo-convex in shape, the concave surface facing, when the wrench is assembled, toward the jaw 11 and the convex surface facing toward the plate member 21. The peripheral portion of the spring plate 27 at two corners thereof are bent out of theA general plane of the spring plate 27 in the direction of the head 11 to provide a pair of camming elements 28 and 29. These camming elements 2S and 29 are disposed so that each is adjacent one side surface of the head 11 so that when the spring plate 27 shifts with the plate member 21, one of these camming elements 28 and 29 always extends beyond its adjacent side surface of the head of the wrench and engages that side surface while the other camming element rides up wardly to a camming position between the plate member 21 and the head 11, thereby positively securing the plate member 21 and the locking element 22 in worm-locking or unlocking position as the case may be. For example it can be seen that when the locking element 22 is in wormunlocking position the camming element 28 will extend beyond the side surface of the head 11 and engage that side surface to tend to hold the plate member 21 against further shifting. At the same time the camming element 29 has been forced to slide upwardly to a camming posi tion between the opposite side of the plate member 21 and the head 11, thereby positively and resiliently holding the plate member 21 and the locking element 22 in wormunlocking position.

When the locking element 22 is moved to Worm-locking position, the camming element 28 will be forced to slide into camming position between the plate member 21 and the head 11 to positively hold the locking element 22 in worm-locking position. At the same time the camming element 29 will extend beyond the adjacent side surface of the head 11 and engage that side surface to further aid in holding the plate member 21 and the locking element 22 carried thereby from further shifting movement.

From the above it can be seen that we have provided an open end wrench having improved locking mechanism thereon. One of the important advantages of our improved adjustable wrench having-locking means is that the construction is extremely simple and relatively inexpensive and the entire wrench may be assembled with a minimum of difficulty and effort. It will be readily seen that the wrench is simple and easy to adjust aud manipulate, and is constructed so as to avoid the use of loose fitting parts. In this respect attention is called to the fact that there is no play between the shaft 19 and the worm 18 and thus it is not possible for the worm to become tilted at an angle such that it will be ditcult to turn the same. Users' of this type of wrench are familiar with such jamming, especially when some of the parts become slightly worn. The shaft or pin 19 is the same cylindrical shaft which is commonly in use in this type of wrench and therefore it can be readily appreciated that the parts of our wrench having an improved locking mechanism are readily interchangable with wrenches already sold or on the market. Y

One of the most important advantages of our improved wrench is the fact that the locking mechanism is so positioned as to cause the same to be less apt to be knocked out of locking position while the wrench is being utilized. A wrench which utilizes a locking means that' extends outwardly beyond the head such as in U. S. Letters Patent No. 2,719,449, tends to be knocked out of locking position when the wrench is being vutilized because the locking and unlocking mechanism extends outwardly beyond the periphery of the wrench and will be engaged by parts of the machinery, etc., uponwhich. the wrench may be utilized.

Another advantage of our wrench is that it is capable of more accurate adjustment than V,open end wrenches having locking means heretofore known. By placing the rack upon the end portion of the worm 18 we have been able to incorporate a much largernumber'of adjusting positions than has been heretofore possible in a wrench of a given size and therefore-our wrench is substantially more versatile.

It should also be noted that our wrench, even in the event that parts of the locking mechanism will become worn, will still perform all of the desirable functions of a nonlocking wrench in a normal manner even though part of a locking mechanism may be damaged or need replacement. Furthermore, wear of the locking mechanism in our wrench will .not cause a sloppy t between parts of the wrench which perform the normal functions of a nonlocking wrench and hence despite wear to the locking mechanism our wrench will perform the primary functions of a nonlocking wrench equally as well when worn as when new.

It should also be noted that our wrench utilizes tht same round, drilled and tapped holes to accommodate the shaft 19 as has heretofore been utilized in the construction of the conventional nonlocking open end wrench. Since there is no need for rotation of the shaft 19 in our wrench, there is no wear which takes place upon the inner surface of this hole. The opening of the Worm 18 through which the shaft 19 extends is round and thereby provides a much better and lasting bearing surface than will be of our invention which consists of the matter shown and described herein and set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A wrench comprising a head provided with a fixed jaw, a second jaw slidable in said head and having a rack thereon, a shaft mounted in sa-idhead adjacent said rack, a worm rotatably mounted on said.shaft in said head in driving engagement with said rack, a second rack mounied on one end portion of said worm in annular arrangement around said shaft, a plate member mounted on said shaft adjacent said end portionof said worm and having an opening through which said shaft extends and being sldably shiftable radially of said shaft, a lock element carried by said plate member and shiftable therewith radially of said shaft into and out of locking engagement with said worm rack whereby the rotational movement of said worm may be controlled as desired,and a spring plate member positioned between said first mentioned plate member and said head and shifting with said first mentioned plate member, said spring plate member having a peripheral portion laterally offset from the general plane of said spring plate member adjacent one side of said head, said offset portion extending outwardly beyond said head when said lock element is in worm-unlocking position and riding upwardly to a camming position between said head and said first mentioned plate member when said lock element is shifted into worin-locking position to effectively hold said rst mentioned plate member and said lock member in said worm-locking position.

2. A wrench comprising a head provided with a iixed jaw, a second jaw slidable in said head and having a rack thereon, a worm rotatably mounted in said head in driving engagement with said rack, slidable worm-locking means carried by said head in position to engage said worm and slidable between worm-locking and unlocking positions, and a spring plate positioned between said means and said head, said plate being movable with said means and having camming peripheral portions at opposite sides thereof offset from the general plane of said plate, one of said peripheral portions extending beyond said head and engaging a side surface thereof when said means is in worm-unlocking position and riding upwardly to a camming position between said means and said head when said means is in worm-locking position, the other of said offset portions extending beyond said head and engaging an opposite side surface of said head when said means is in worm-locking position and riding upwardly on said head to a camming position between said means and said head when said means is in worm-unlocking 'position whereby said means is positively held by one of said camming portions of said plate in one of said wormlocking or unlocking positions.

3. A wrench comprising a head provided with a fixed jaw, a second jaw slidable in said head and having a rack thereon, a worm rotatably mounted in said head in driving engagement with said rack, and a plate slidably supported by said head, said plate having locking means projecting out of the plane of the plate, said plate being slidable substantially radially of the axis of the worm between worm engaging and locking position and unlocking position.

4. A device as defined in claim 3, including resilient means for retaining said plate in position.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,367,408 Mcchirkin 1 Feb. 1, 1921 1,498,656 Herby June 24, 1924 1,588,105 Hanford June 8, 1926 1,729,640 Vallone Oct. 1, 1929 1,954,914 Bouche Apr. 17, 1934 2,427,608 Kershaw Sept. 16, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS 47,960 Sweden Nov. 24, 1920 72,035 Denmark Jan. 15, 1951 

